Bring Your Own Bandages: Medicines and Supplies to Have on Hand Before Disaster Strikes is now available on Amazon. Read the reviews and see for yourself. Available in digital and hard copy.
Disclaimer. I am not a licensed health
practitioner. This is just another post on knowledge and understanding
you might wish to acquire in advance of a disaster in case no higher
care is available. As long as our society is functioning, you should
leave anything more substantial than applying a Band-Aid to the
professionals. No medication, including those available
over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.
Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes
only. It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical
care.
I thought this chart might be helpful in considering common conditions
for which you will want to have antibiotics and the usual dosages per
course of treatment. I figured it might be a means of determining the
numbers of any given antibiotic that you want to have on hand. THIS IS
NOT TO BE INTERPRETED AS A PRESCRIPTION FOR ANY GIVEN MEDICAL
CONDITION. It is only to help you calculate quantities you may wish to
acquire for your family.
Condition
|
First Choice
|
Second choice
|
Notes
|
Biological weapons
|
|||
Anthrax
|
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg/2x per day/60 days
|
Doxycycline 100 mg/2x per day/60 days
|
|
Plague
|
Doxycycline 100 mg/2x per day/10 days
|
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg/2x per day/10-14 days
|
Moxifloxacin 400 mg/1x per day/10 days
|
Cholera
|
Doxycycline 100 mg/2x per day/10 days
|
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg/2x per day/10-14 days
|
|
Tularemia
|
Doxycycline 100 mg/2x per day/10 days
|
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg/2x per day/10-14 days
|
|
Skin infections
|
|||
Staphylococcus
|
SMZ-TMP DS 2x per day
|
Clindamycin 500 mg/3x per day
Doxycycline 100 mg/2x per day
SMZ-TMP DS
|
(Number of days for treatment will be based on how quickly condition
resolves)
|
Streptococcus
|
Penicillin
|
Ampicillin
Augmentin
Cephalexin
Clindamycin
|
(Number of days for treatment will be based on how quickly condition
resolves. Plan on at least 10 days per
incident.)
|
Cat and dog bites
|
Augmentin 250-500 mg/3x per day/3-5 days
Penicillin 500 mg/4x per day/3-5 days
|
Amoxicillin 500 mg/3x per day/3-5 days
Erythromycin 250-500 mg/3-4x per day/3-5 days
|
Prophylactic treatment should begin immediately after every cat bite,
as most cat bites will cause infection.
Amounts provided here are all for bites that do not show signs of
infection. If a bite has already
become infected, treatment with the same antibiotics and dosages lasts 7-10
days.
|
Cellulitis
|
SMZ-TMP DS 2x per day
Augmentin 875 mg/2x per day
|
Clindamycin 500 mg/3x per day
Cephalexin 1000 mg/2x per day
|
(Number of days for treatment will be based on how quickly condition
resolves. Plan on at least 10 days per
incident.)
|
Tick bites
|
Prophylactic use: doxycycline 200 mg once; disease treatment: 100 mg/2x per day/10-14 days
|
||
Typhus
|
Doxycycline 100 mg/2x per day/7-10 days
|
||
Respiratory tract infections
|
|||
Pneumonia
|
IV/IM antibiotics best
|
Levofloxacin 750 mg/1x per day OR
Augmentin 1000 mg/2x per day OR
Amoxicillin 1000 mg/3x per day PLUS
Azithromycin OR
Moxifloxacin 400 mg/4x per day
|
|
Aspiration pneumonia
|
IV/IM antibiotics best
|
Moxifloxacin 400 mg/4x per day
|
|
“Walking” pneumonia
|
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg/2x per day
Levofloxacin 750 mg/2x per day
|
Doxycycline 100 mg/2x per day
Erythromycin 400 mg/3x per day
|
|
Bronchitis
|
Azithromycin 500 mg first day, 250 mg per day/7 days
|
Clarithromycin 500 mg/2x per day
SMZ-TMP DS 2x per day
|
|
Strep throat
|
Penicillin
Amoxicillin
|
Clindamycin
Azithromycin
Clarithromycin
|
Dosage and duration depend on age and weight of patient
|
Dental infections
|
Amoxicillin
|
Clindamycin
|
|
Sinusitis
|
Augmentin 1000 mg/2x per day/7-10 days
|
Levofloxacin 750 mg/1x per day/7-10 days
|
|
Otitis Media (ear infection)
|
Amoxicillin
Augmentin
|
Dosage and duration depend on age and weight of patient
|
|
Gastrointestinal infections
|
|||
Giardia
|
Metronidazole 250 mg/3x per day/5-7 days
|
||
Post-antibiotic colitis
|
Metronidazole 500 mg/3x per day/14 days
|
||
Cholera
|
Azithromycin 1000 mg 1x
Doxycycline 300 mg 1x
|
Erythromycin 500 mg/1x per day/3 days
|
|
Traveler’s diarrhea
|
Levofloxacin 500 mg/1x per day/1-3 days
|
Azithromycin 500 mg/1x per day/3 days
|
|
Salmonella
|
Levofloxacin 500 mg/1x per day/7-10 days
|
Azithromycin 500 mg/1x per day/7-10 days
|
|
Shigella
|
Ciprofloxacin 750 mg/2x per day/3 days
|
Azithromycin 500 mg/1x per day/3 days
|
|
Diverticulitis
|
SMZ-TMP DS OR levofloxacin 750 mg/1x per day/7-10 days PLUS
Metronidazole 500 mg/1x per day/7-10 days
|
||
Appendicitis
|
Augmentin 500 mg/3x per day OR
SMZ-TMP DS OR
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg/2x per day PLUS
Metronidazole 500 mg/3-4x per day
|
Continue taking until 3-4 days after symptoms have resolved.
|
|
Urinary tract infections
|
|||
Lower UTI
|
SMZ-TMP DS 2x per day/7 days
|
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg/2x per day
Levofloxacin 400 mg/1x per day
|
|
Upper UTI
|
IV/IM antibiotics best
|
IV/IM antibiotics best
|
|
As you make your decisions about what to stockpile, consider
the following:
- Which of these infections are you and your family members actually susceptible to? We don’t have problems with sinus infections, so I don’t even look at what’s required for treating those. Strep throat and ear infections are pretty common in young children, so I’d store a lot more penicillin if I had a young family.
- Look at the cost per pill. Doxycycline is ridiculously cheap; if I’ve got a choice between using that or just about anything else, I’ll go with doxy, after discussing it with my doctor, of course.
- Consider the side effects. Not only is ciprofloxacin on the more expensive side, it can have some really undesirable side effects. I stock it because it may be the best choice for some conditions.
- Remember, you aren’t making the decisions about what to use and when. You are merely stockpiling these antibiotics for a time of need when a physician can prescribe what is best. You just want to give the doctor the right tools for the job.
If the thinking and calculating quantities are more than you
want to do, you can go with Dr. Koelker’s simplified list. It’s posted here, and you can find it in her
book, Armageddon Medicine, as well. Her
list does not include several of the antibiotics listed above, most notably
levofloxacin and clindamycin, but those two can be covered by other
antibiotics. It’s just that levofloxacin
and clindamycin are the first choices in some cases.
11 July 2024 A reader emailed me about including a link to Jase Medical (https://jasemedical.com/), a company I was unaware of when this article originally posted a few years ago. (As you know, I have other projects this summer and most articles until September will be repeats.) I have no experience with them but have heard good things. They are expensive.
Links to related posts:
Acquiring Antibiotics
Armageddon Medicine
Appendicitis
Cholera
Tick-borne Illnesses
Dog and Cat Bites
Typhus
For further reading:
https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/pdf/cipro-eui-hcp-H.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/medical-care/doxy-eui-hcp.html
https://www.cdc.gov/plague/resources/Recommended-antibiotics-for-plague_revision-Aug-2015_Final-(00000002).pdf
